How Far Will the Plastic Industry Go?

Spending Millions to Block Bag Bans

By Michelle Beyer

Why are cities across America considering plastic bag taxes and bans and why are plastic interest groups fighting them so vociferously?

California's beaches are covered in plastic. This year on Coastal Clean Up Day, plastic bags and food containers were the two largest categories of trash found on beaches after cigarette butts. Caltrans alone spends $60 million annually just to clean up our roads and highways. This litter travels through storm drains, creeks and rivers, eventually making it to the bay and ocean. There it kills marine life and spreads invasive species and toxic pollutants.

Faced with the public's growing awareness of the loads of litter accumulating in the ocean and the lack of support from the state level, cities have decided to take matters into their own hands. Standing in their way are basically two groups: the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and savetheplasticbag.com.

This past August, the ACC, a trade association representing plastic and chlorine manufacturers, contributed $1.4 million to successfully defeat the City of Seattle's proposed plastic bag tax. The ACC contribution was seventeen times the total amount of money raised by referendum supporters.

In 2006, when the City of San Francisco proposed a plastic bag tax, a group called The Progressive Bag Alliance lobbied Sacramento to pass legislation that restricted cities from enacting any taxes on plastic bags.

With the option of a plastic bag tax no longer on the table, the City of San Francisco enacted a citywide ban on plastic bags in March 2007. Since then, seven other California cities have tried to pass plastic bag bans. Both Fairfax and Oakland were sued by The Coalition to Support Plastic Bag Recycling, a group that has since been absorbed by the American Chemistry Coucil. The Cities of Manhattan Beach and Palo Alto were also sued by a different group called savetheplasticbag.com.

The ACC emphasizes economics in its crusade to save the plastic bag. It claims that the California market was valued at $210 million for restaurant take out bags alone. Savetheplasticbag.com argues that bans on plastic bags will force consumers to use paper bags. Its founder, Stephen Joseph claims this shift will be worse for the environment because paper bag recycling uses more energy and water resources than plastic bag recycling.

Yet portraying the battle as "paper versus plastic" is not telling the whole story. There are other alternatives like encouraging the use of reusable fabric bags, or imposing bans or fees on single-use bags of all kinds. In order to get more alternatives on the table, the Ocean Protection Council has proposed drafting a Master Environmental Assessment that would make a more objective assessment of the impact of plastic bag bans. All California cities could use this assessment to decide whether plastic bag bans work for them.

The Watershed Project supports the city of San Francisco's ban on plastic bags and hopes that a similar ordinance will be passed in our hometown of Richmond. In the meantime, we support the current Foodware Ordinance that several Easy Bay cities have adopted, and which the Richmond City Council is currently considering. We believe in efforts that increase the health of our local watersheds and recognize the severe problem of plastic in our creeks and waterways. We hope you will join us in supporting a cleaner environment in Richmond. The issue will be discussed at the Richmond City Council meeting at Civic Center Plaza on Tuesday, October 20th.